Hartmann, A D A M L (2008) A role-play approach for teaching research methodology in construction management. In: Dainty, A (ed.) Proceedings of 24th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2008, Cardiff, UK.
Abstract
Assignments for Construction Management (CM) graduate programmes often require students to carry out research on real-world problems. To prepare students for this task, many CM-programmes contain a research methodology course. However, after taking part in these courses, many students still lack the ability to define the scope of their research problem and to find an appropriate research design. To counteract this situation, a role-play approach to teach research methodology was designed in which the students take on the role of "clients" and “researchers�. The role-play was embedded in two research methodology courses at the University of Twente (The Netherlands) and at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (South Africa). In both cases the lecturers noticed that this exercise proved to be an effective instrument. Students became more aware of the complexity of construction management problems and were better able to define their research problem and design. Furthermore, it helped to put research methodology into a more realistic and pragmatic perspective.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | education; research methodology; role-play |
| Index terms: | exercise, programme, Netherlands, research design, research methodology, complexity, South Africa |
| Subjects: | research design and methodology, health behaviours and lifestyles, Geography, project controls, systems engineering |
| Topics: | Time Control, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here